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→Modern Era
Modern Iranian history began with a nationalist uprising against the Shah in 1905 and the establishment of a limited constitutional monarchy in 1906. The discovery of oil in 1908 would later become a key factor in Iranian history and development.
Modern Iranian history began with a nationalist uprising against the Shah in 1905 and the establishment of a limited constitutional monarchy in 1906. The discovery of oil in 1908 would later become a key factor in Iranian history and development.
In 1921, Reza Khan, an Iranian officer of the Persian Cossack Brigade, seized control of the government. In 1925, having ousted the Qajar dynasty, he made himself Shah and established the Pahlavi dynasty, ruling as Reza Shah for almost 16 years.
In 1921, Reza Khan, an Iranian officer of the Persian Cossack Brigade, seized control of the government. In 1925, having ousted the Qajar dynasty, he made himself Shah and established the Pahlavi dynasty, ruling as [[Reza Shah]] for almost 16 years.
Under Reza Shah's reign, Iran began to modernize and to secularize, and the central government reasserted its authority over the tribes and provinces. During World War Two the Allies feared the monarch close relations with Nazi Germany. In September 1941, following the occupation of western Iran by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, became Shah and would rule until 1979.
Under Reza Shah's reign, Iran began to modernize and to secularize, and the central government reasserted its authority over the tribes and provinces. During World War Two the Allies feared the monarch close relations with Nazi Germany. In September 1941, following the occupation of western Iran by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, became Shah and would rule until 1979.
====1921-41====
In the years following [[World War I]] the [[Soviet Union]] and [[British Empire]] routinely interfered in the internal affairs and violated the territorial integrity of Iran. To counterbalance British and Soviet influence, Reza Shah encouraged German commercial enterprise in Iran. Reza Shah became increasingly enamored of [[Hitler]] and [[Nazi Germany]]. Ambassador Fritz Grobba, often called "the German Lawrence of Arabia," promised an Islamic state stretching from [[Casablanca]] to Tehran. Edwin Black writes<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Denial-of-Holocaust-nothing-new-in-Iran-Ties-to-2507165.php</ref>,
{{quotebox|So intense was the Shah's identification with the [[Third Reich]] that in 1935 he renamed his ancient country "Iran," which in Farsi means Aryan and refers to the Proto-Indo-European lineage that [[Nazi]] racial theorists and Persian ethnologists cherished.
The idea for the name change was suggested by the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of Hitler's trusted banker, [[Hjalmar Schacht]]. From that point, all Iranians were constantly reminded that their country shared a common bond with the Nazi regime.}}
By the eve of [[World War II]], Germany was Iran's largest trading partner.<ref>http://countrystudies.us/iran/15.htm </ref> After the Fall of France and while Hitler was preparing for [[Operation Barbarossa]], all was not well in the British zone of the [[Sykes-Picot]] (the Palestinian and Mesopotamian Mandates). Black writes,
{{quotebox|the Mufti of Jerusalem [Haj Amin al-Husseini] crafted a strategic alliance with Hitler to exchange Iraqi oil for active Arab and Islamic participation in the murder of Jews in the Mideast and [[Eastern Europe]]. This was predicated on support for a pan-Arab state and Arab control over Palestine.}}
So tenuous was British control in Mesopotamia (Iraq) as war broke out, the British Consul in [[Mosul]] was hacked to death by a mob with an axe<ref>http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17590728 </ref> and nearly two hundred Jews were murdered in Baghdad.<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lyn-julius/iraqs-1941-pogrom_b_5430131.html </ref> The [[Luftwaffe]] took possession of the Mosul airport for a period of weeks. Iran became a haven for [[Gestapo]] agents and a plot was formulated in Tehran to overthrow the British supported regime in Baghdad [Anglo-Iraqi War].}}
When Hitler reneged on [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] and attacked his former ally, [[Winston Churchill]] flew to [[Moscow]], assured the Soviet Union of assistance, and the fate of Reza Shah was sealed. The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran deposed the Iranian monarch in favor of his son, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], who proved to be a loyal ally in the war against Hitler and continued his father's pro-Western reform movement throughout his nearly forty year reign. The British controlled Iraqi zone remained unstable and dangerous.<ref>See Iraqforce and Tenth Army (United Kingdom) for more on British and Indian forces deployed to Iraq from 1941-43.</ref> Greater safety, but most of all Iran's geographical benefit of a direct route for supplies into the USSR across their common border, made the Persian Corridor an important conduit for [[Lend-Lease]] aid to the USSR. The wartime [[Casablanca Conference]], [[Tehran Conference]], and [[Cairo Conference]]} were symbolic of failed German designs upon [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]].
====1941-48====
====1941-48====
During [[World War II]] Iran was openly partial to the Axis cause. A joint Anglo-Soviet military action began on 25 August 1941 when 40,000 Soviet troops entered Iran from the north and headed for Tehran. On the same day about 19,000 British Commonwealth troops, mostly in Indian brigades, entered from various directions. There was slight resistance on the part of Iranian troops but no force Iran could not have withstood the power of the occupying armies of British Empire and the Soviet Union, and German assistance by air was now as far away as Crete. On 30 August 1941 identical notes were submitted by the invading powers to the Iranian Government which accepted their terms on 9 September. On 16 September the Shah abdicated in favor of his son, [[Mohammed Reza Pahlevi]], and left the country. The next day Tehran was jointly occupied by the British and Soviet troops without show of military force.
During [[World War II]] Iran was openly partial to the Axis cause. A joint Anglo-Soviet military action began on 25 August 1941 when 40,000 Soviet troops entered Iran from the north and headed for Tehran. On the same day about 19,000 British Commonwealth troops, mostly in Indian brigades, entered from various directions. There was slight resistance on the part of Iranian troops but no force Iran could not have withstood the power of the occupying armies of British Empire and the Soviet Union, and German assistance by air was now as far away as Crete. On 30 August 1941 identical notes were submitted by the invading powers to the Iranian Government which accepted their terms on 9 September. On 16 September the Shah abdicated in favor of his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, and left the country. The next day Tehran was jointly occupied by the British and Soviet troops without show of military force.
The terms imposed by Tri-Partite Treaty of alliance signed on 29 January 1942 disavowed any designs against the territorial integrity of Iran or independence. Iran agreed to refrain from any act contrary to British or Soviet interests.<ref>[http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/persian/chapter01.htm#b2 United States Army in World War II], The Middle East Theater The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia, T. H. Vail Motter, Center of Military History United States Army Washington, D.C., 2000. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 52-60791. First Printed 1952-CMH Pub 8-1.</ref>
The terms imposed by Tri-Partite Treaty of alliance signed on 29 January 1942 disavowed any designs against the territorial integrity of Iran or independence. Iran agreed to refrain from any act contrary to British or Soviet interests.<ref>[http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/persian/chapter01.htm#b2 United States Army in World War II], The Middle East Theater The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia, T. H. Vail Motter, Center of Military History United States Army Washington, D.C., 2000. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 52-60791. First Printed 1952-CMH Pub 8-1.</ref>